Joined: 12 Apr 2012 Age: 60 Gender: Male Posts: 1,033
23 Dec 2014, 11:45 pm
queensamaria wrote:
I recommend Vivaldi. I haven't listened to classical music in months.
Hahahaha, I haven't listened to classical music in hours. Seemed like forever, but I guess we all have to get by somehow and some of my clients don't enjoy background music like the others.
Quote:
- Composer: Gabriel Urbain Fauré (12 May 1845 -- 4 November 1924) - Performers: The Cambridge Singers, Members of the City of London Sinfonia, John Scott (organ) - Conductor: John Rutter - Soloists: Caroline Ashton (soprano), Stephen Varcoe (baritone), Simon Standage (solo violin) - Year of recording: 1984
Requiem in D minor Op. 48, written between 1887-1890. This is the 'chamber work' version from 1893.
00:00 - I. Introït et Kyrie (D minor) 05:59 - II. Offertoire (B minor) 14:24 - III. Sanctus (E-flat major) 17:30 - IV. Pie Jesu (B-flat major) 21:02 - V. Agnus Dei et Lux Aeterna (F major) 26:23 - VI. Libera Me (D minor) 30:57 - VII. In Paradisum (D major)
Given the enormous and enduring popularity of Fauré's Requiem, it is curious to contemplate the sheer haphazardness by which this familiar masterpiece took shape. The initial version of 1887-1888 included but five movements, lacking the Offertorium and the Libera me, and was scored moreover for mixed choir and organ, harp, tympani, violas, and cellos divided, and double basses, with a boy soprano (for the Pie Jesu), and a solo violin for the Sanctus. This version was first heard at the Madeleine, where Fauré was choirmaster, on 16 January 1888, with children taking the soprano choral parts and the young Louis Aubert singing the Pie Jesu. These gentle prayers were found to be dangerous "novelties" by the Madeleine's vicar, and the composer was reprimanded for them immediately following the ceremony. By May, two trumpets and two horns had been added. And in June 1889, the Offertorium was composed and added with a Libera me dating from 1877. Parts for trombones, bassoons, and violins were sketched and may have been included in a performance at the Madeleine on 21 January 1893 -- the manuscripts are ambiguous. Likewise, it is not known whether the elision of several bars from the Kyrie was made before or after that performance. Attempts to reconstruct the intimate, "authentic" 1893 chamber ensemble version of the Requiem have yielded two editions: one by composer and choral director John Rutter (this recording), the other by Fauré scholar Jean-Michel Nectoux. Although similar, these editions differ in details of both scoring and text. Meanwhile, a third and final version of the Requiem with full orchestra was prepared in 1899, though it has been impossible to establish whether the instrumentation is Fauré's or that of his pupil, Jean Roger-Ducasse. This "symphonic" Requiem -- the version most often performed and recorded -- had its premiere at the Trocadéro, 12 July 1900, with a chorus of 250, a Torrès taking the Pie Jesu (a number that had to be encored), Eugène Gigout at the organ, and the orchestra and chorus of the Conservatoire under the direction of Paul Taffanel.
Throughout, the suggestion of Gregorian chant informed by modern measure and melos lends Fauré's idiom immediate appeal and an aura of timelessness at once. The Requiem's seven movements form an arch whose keystone and crown is the central Pie Jesu -- the lone voice petitioning its savior for eternal rest in long-breathed, classically balanced, tender, and infinitely moving phrases -- flanked by the serene lift of the Sanctus (over which an exquisite violin cantilena wafts) and the gently consoling Agnus Dei. Coming before and after, respectively, the somber Offertorium and Libera me are reminders of judgment, the more effective for being understated, with their baritone solos standing forth from the choral body to plead for deliverance and rest. At the extreme points, the opening darkly hued Introit and Kyrie are balanced by the sublime radiance of the final In Paradisum -- "There may the choir of angels receive thee, and, with Lazarus, once a beggar, mayst thou have eternal rest."
_________________ There is no wealth like knowledge, no poverty like ignorance. Nahj ul-Balāgha by Ali bin Abu-Talib
PS: Is anyone having trouble seeing embedded youtube videos on this new forum? They just show up as blank space in the page for me or broken links, I can't actually see any of the embedded videos.
PS: Is anyone having trouble seeing embedded youtube videos on this new forum? They just show up as blank space in the page for me or broken links, I can't actually see any of the embedded videos.
Hello Stargazer, how are you doing!?? I would love to hear that performed live, I bet it was a treat.
I was thinking the other day about how much fun this thread was until we kind of ran out of music. It really changed my life in that I now love classical music, whereas before, not so much.
I'm in the middle of my opera season pass. Really enjoying it! Lady Macbeth of Minsk (Shostakovitch) was the best so far.
And yes, I can see the videos.
I can't remember if anyone has posted anything by this guy yet, but he's one of my favs lately. He's great to listen to while writing or trying to figure out solutions to things~
Joined: 6 Nov 2011 Age: 38 Gender: Male Posts: 2,604
14 Jan 2015, 9:56 pm
wozeree wrote:
Stargazer43 wrote:
Hello Stargazer, how are you doing!?? I would love to hear that performed live, I bet it was a treat.
I was thinking the other day about how much fun this thread was until we kind of ran out of music. It really changed my life in that I now love classical music, whereas before, not so much.
I'm in the middle of my opera season pass. Really enjoying it! Lady Macbeth of Minsk (Shostakovitch) was the best so far.
And yes, I can see the videos.
I can't remember if anyone has posted anything by this guy yet, but he's one of my favs lately. He's great to listen to while writing or trying to figure out solutions to things~
I am doing very well, and yourself? I have been quite busy lately, but in a good way...things are looking up for me in more than one respect!
Ah, we never truly run out of music, but we do run out of time! I'm totally jealous of your season pass! With all the music I listen to, I still haven't seen a live opera. It's more because I can't find any performances of the ones I would want to see - I just see the same Verdi and Donizetti operas being performed over and over and most venues.
Joined: 23 Aug 2013 Age: 62 Gender: Female Posts: 2,344
17 Jan 2015, 7:49 pm
That's a nice piece!
I agree with you about the same operas being played, was thinking myself the same thing. I wish they would put on a few more newer or more experimental ones. However, I'm still so new to the whole thing that it's all a treat to me.
Joined: 6 Nov 2011 Age: 38 Gender: Male Posts: 2,604
19 Jan 2015, 6:55 pm
wozeree wrote:
Just came across this one which I liked. To God The Beloved...hmmm sounds like there's a lot of turmoil and drama in it. Makes you think.
Danke, mein freund! Bruckner's slow movements are absolutely phenomenal - he creates such an expansive and emotional soundscape in nearly all of them. The one you posted, in conjunction with the slow movement from his 7th symphony, are among my favorites.
Joined: 23 Aug 2013 Age: 62 Gender: Female Posts: 2,344
22 Feb 2015, 11:59 pm
This is kind of off topic, but I've been a little obsessed with Levon Helm lately and just signed up for drumming lessons. Not entirely off topic though, maybe I could learn to play classical too. The drummers are the one's I always watch when I go to the opera, anyway. This Tuesday it's Don Giovanni. Hello Mozart!
11 Dec 2014, 9:37 pm
